Having sailed through that area in 2003 in between two pirate attacks
on yachts a few weeks apart I am amazed that they:
A). "ran out of fuel" when they could have filled up in Aden with
pefect safety, and,

B) they were near the notorious Somali coast. Given that the opposit
coast of Yemen is also not completely safe it would have made better
sense to navigate through the middle of the Gulf of Aden as most do.

The update of a few days ago is that the boy is ill and that the
pirates have taken the family and French skipper into the hills and
are demanding a million dollars ransome for "invading their sea space"

cheers
Peter

As reported on http://news.bbc.co.uk & http://www.cnn.com

It is now clear that this hostage situation, which occurred early
Monday morning, in fact took place off the coast of Somalia, not Yemen
as previously stated.

It was initially reported that pirates took a European family of four
hostage after their yacht ran out of fuel off the coast of northern
Somalia in the Red Sea's Gulf of Aden. The family were en route from
Egypt to Thailand. The hostages were thought to be a man, woman, their
child and their yacht's pilot, however it has now been confirmed they
are a middle aged couple from Southern Germany.

The couple were taken into the hills around the fishing town of Las
Qoray, and the pirates have now demanded a ransom.

Reports coming from the area are confusing. The district commissioner
of the Las Qoray area Yusuf Jama Dabeed said that troops from the
semi-autonomous region of Puntland found the yacht abandoned on the
shore, but that by that point the kidnappers had taken their captives
into the mountains. This leaves a mystery as to what happened to the
pilot and the child reportedly on board the yacht.

It is believed that the kidnapping was an opportunistic action that
involved both pirates and local fishermen.

The German Foreign Office said that it was attempting to find more
information on the kidnapping.

Las Qoray is in a territory claimed by both Puntland, a self-declared
autonomous state, and Somalia. The two sides clashed over the disputed
land earlier this year.

Pirate Attacks

Pirate attacks against fishing boats, cargo ships and yachts off
Somalia's coast have surged over recent months.

Somaliland declared its independence from Somalia in 1991 after the
overthrow of military leader Siad Barre.

The breakaway republic has been relatively peaceful in comparison to
Somalia, which has experienced almost constant civil conflict since
then.

Somalia's coastal waters are close to shipping routes connecting the
Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, and the country's interim government
lacks the resources to police its own coastline.

Earlier this month, the UN Security Council voted to allow countries
to send warships into Somalia's waters to tackle the pirates.